Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA)-Hillary Clinton has been reticent about making Iran a major issue throughout the campaign: It's a hard straddle for her between her skepticism of the nuclear deal reached last year and honoring the legacy of President Barack Obama. (Her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., was a prominent backer of the deal, and in a rare tonal differentiation from Clinton, has emphasized the deal as a win.) Yet she was the first to mention Iran in the final debate on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas...
Orlando author Joanie Holzer Schirm, a featured speaker at local forums such as the Downtown Orlando Public Library, the Tenth Annual Dr. Phillips Rotary Club sponsored Author Series at the Southwest Branch Library, the Winter Park Women's Club, and teacher-training sessions and Yom HaShoah at the Holocaust Center Memorial and Education Center of Florida has gained another honor. Her debut nonfiction book, "Adventurers Against Their Will," has been included as an educational resource in the book...
"The war brought about scarcities of just about everything...except misery. 'Alle raise,' (everybody out), the German soldiers screamed as they pounded on our door with the butts of their rifles." Thus began a 4,500-mile journey from Poland through Russia and Siberia and eventually to Uzbekistan in Central Asia, as the speaker and author's family used bribery and darkness of night to flee as the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. Milton Kleinberg, who walked this long walk, will be visiting Orlando...
On the evening of Nov. 14, the Jewish Community Relations Council will host a community discussion, "Nostra Aetate: Turning Points for Interfaith Dialogue," in the Hillel Ballroom of the University of Central Florida NorthView building, 3925 Lockwood Blvd., Oviedo. Nostra Aetate is Latin for "in our time." Nostra Aetate, the Vatican's 1965 Declaration on Relations with Non-Christian Faiths, was notable for several reasons, especially the revocation of the charge that Jews were collectively...
JERUSALEM—Israel could have done a better job of enlisting Christian allies in its efforts to prevent the United Nations from passing a resolution erasing the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall, one South African legislator claims. Speaking with JNS.org in Hebron Wednesday, MP Kenneth Meshoe, of the African Christian Democratic Party, alleged that Jerusalem was slow in mobilizing its allies across the world, which prevented organizing a grass roots campaign on its behalf. “If many of these countries knew beforehand what was...
(JTA)—If the latest draft resolution at UNESCO on “Occupied Palestine” succeeded in the Palestinians’ aims to reclaim the world’s attention, then it was a Pyrrhic victory at best and a setback at worst. Part of an effort on Jerusalem initiated at UNESCO in 2015 by the Palestinian Authority, the Oct. 12 vote saw a comfortable majority of states, including Russia and China, pass language calling on Israel “to cease the persistent excavations and works in East Jerusalem, particularly in and around the Old City,” as one clause reads. Only six coun...
(World Israel News)—A list of the top 10 beneficiaries of 2015-2016 campaign contributions from individuals who subscribe to “Islamic supremacy,” compiled by the Middle East Forum’s “Islamist Money in Politics” (IMP) project, has U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the top. Clinton, IMP claims, raked in $41,165 from prominent Islamists who, according to IMP, “subscribe to the same Islamic supremacism as Khomeini, Bin Laden, and ISIS.” This includes $19,249 from senior officials of the Council on American-Islami...
Many of you may know Rene Brent as a dedicated member of the Orlando Jewish Community, who for the past 23 years has volunteered with The Jewish Federation, chaired the women's campaign for three years, and volunteered for the general campaign for two years, all while working as a trauma nurse, a career that spanned 25 years. She is also the mother of three children: Ariel 25, Elise 23 and Ben 19, who made Aliyah in August of this year. However, many of you may not know that Brent is now a...
The new Congregation of Reform Judaism Cultural Arts Collective hosts its first open house and invites all local arts enthusiasts-performers, fine artists, musicians, writers... and those who love them. The event will be held in the Schott Family Chapel on Wednesday, Nov. 2, from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to bring something to perform for the group: a song, poem, monologue, magic, or dance. If there is time for a second round, anyone who wishes may perform a second piece....
They might be too young to vote on Nov. 8, but Greater Orlando students in grades 8 to 12 will have an opportunity to share their views, get involved and learn more about politics as part of a Jewish Teen Education Network (JTEN) initiative on Election Eve. JTEN, a program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, is sponsoring “Decision 2016: Your Voice, Your Vote, Making a Difference,” its fall Communitywide Teen Education Day, from 5:45 to 8 p.m. on Nov. 7 at Congregation of Reform Judaism, 928 Malone Drive, Orlando. This unique eve...
You have to wonder if the barbarians fighting under the flag of the Islamic State still believe that 72 virgins will be waiting for them in paradise once they become “martyrs.” I say this not because the leaders and foot soldiers of ISIS have suddenly woken up to the possibility that this belief is based, according to several scholars, on a mistranslation of the relevant verse of the Qu’ran; that would be expecting too much of them. I say this because they have already had a taste of that paradise here on earth, as a result of their campa...
Last week, the United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted to declare that this millenniums-old site was not Jewish at all, but exclusively Islamic. This outrageous vote is an affront not just to the Jewish people, but to all those who value the vital role of historical truth in navigating current global issues. And yet, two dozen countries voted in favor of the resolution, with only six opposing—the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, The Netherlands, Lithuania and Estonia. Many other countries abstained, i...
Israeli politicians and Jewish activists here and there are calling for unity, typically behind whatever point of view they are supporting. In extremis, we hear that it is essential for the survival of Israel or the Jewish people. Yet it never takes long before we hear other Israelis or Jews demanding unity behind something quite different. God Himself gave us the label of a stiff-necked people, in the 32nd chapter of Exodus. The meaning since then has involved antagonism, stubbornness, argumentative, and going into minute detail in order to...
Off the coast of Yemen and at the UN Security Council we are seeing the strategic endgame of Barack Obama’s administration. And it isn’t pretty. Since Oct. 9, Iran’s Houthi proxies in Yemen have attacked U.S. naval craft three times in the Bab al Mandab, the narrow straits at the mouth of the Red Sea. The Bab al Mandab controls maritime traffic in the Red Sea, and ultimately control the Suez Canal. Whether the Iranians directed these assaults or simply green lighted them is really beside the point. The point is that these are Iranian strik...
Great suffering is occurring in Iraq and Syria. The region is ravaged by terror. Millions have been forced from their homes. Christians and other ethno-religious minorities have suffered genocide at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS). The shutting down of U.S. military operations in Iraq created political instability that left a power vacuum filled by terror groups bent on destroying Western civilization. ISIS has forced millions of Iraqis and Syrians from their homes destabilizing the surrounding nations and exporting the problems of the Mi...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) Chabad of South Orlando—Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. and 10 minutes before sunset; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 8:15 a.m., 407-354-3660. Congregation Ahavas Yisrael—Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m.; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-644-2500. Congregation Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Daytona—Monday, 8 a.m.; Thursday, 8 a.m., 904-672-9300. Congregation Ohev Shalom—Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-298-4650. GOBOR Community Minyan at Jewish Academy of Orlando—Monday—Friday, 7:45 a.m.—8:30 a.m. Temple I...
“My Jewish Roots” workshops sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando (JGSGO) continue in November with their third workshop—“Find DNA Ancestors and Cousins.” DNA research has become increasingly popular as a genealogic tool to discover distant relatives, family mix and origins. JGSGO member Laurence Morrell described the results of his recent DNA testing. The way this all got started was that I was curious about my genetic background. In 2012, I signed up with Family Tree for their DNA testing program, not knowing w...
Start on a family discovery journey with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando (JGSGO) as it continues "My Jewish Roots" a JGSGO Workshop Roadshow. There are eight remaining free workshops coming to locations throughout the Orlando metro area and over the Internet. Each participant's family discovery journey will include directed hands-on labs that will lead to extending their family tree-adding newly discovered ancestors and living cousins. The third in the series of workshops...
Recently, Israeli lawmaker Merav Ben-Ami disclosed that she is pregnant. Although this is not unusual news, Ben-Ami, a Knesset member for the centrist Kulanu party, is 40, single, and having a baby via in vitro fertiliation (IVF). Ben-Ami is only one of 5 million women who have gone the IVF birth route since Louise Brown gave birth to the first IVF baby in 1978. One would think conceiving a child is the easiest, most natural thing to happen to a woman, however, according to the Centers for...
For the past four years, TOP Jewish Foundation (TOP) has engaged and partnered with Goldman Sachs as its investment adviser of their $40 million portfolio. On Nov. 9 at 12:30 p.m., TOP invites both individuals and organizations to a special briefing featuring the team that manages their portfolio. The event will take place at the Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor, & Reed, PA, office, located at 215 N. Eola Drive in Orlando. The agenda will comprise of an economic and market outlook, an inside look into Goldman Sachs’ Institutional Client S...
Kinneret residents are taking steps toward a happy and healthy New Year! On Thursday, Nov. 3rd, over 40 health-care vendors with be participating in Kinneret's 7th Annual Senior Health Care Expo from 1p.m. - 3:30 p.m. The Health Expo will take place in the Delaney Dining Room located at Kinneret Apartments, 515 South Delaney Avenue in Orlando. This event is open to the public. Vendors will be providing free health screenings, including Balance Testing, blood pressure and memory care....
Anti-Semitic rise in U.S... I read this in the latest issue of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest and (although in part) feel you should be aware: "A recently released report lists a total of 941 cases of reported anti-Semitic attacks in the United States for 2015, compared to 912 in 2014. These included physical assaults, vandalism, harassment and threats. Specific attacks include Hasidic Jews being fired at with paintballs and air rifles while on their way to synagogue, and statements...
(JTA)-Which is braver: Riding a motorcycle across the length of Africa, or taking on an adaptation of a Philip Roth novel for your first directing gig? For a second, actor Ewan McGregor is stumped by the question-but he quickly recovers. "I think this ['American Pastoral'] was more dangerous," he told JTA, chuckling. As part of his role as a UNICEF ambassador, in 2007 the leading man traveled 15,000 miles by motorcycle from Scotland through Europe and across Africa, all the way to Cape Town,...
(JNS.org)-Archaeologists have discovered evidence the Romans had breached Jerusalem's so-called "Third Wall" at the end of the Second Temple period in 70 C.E., the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced. Remains of a tower protruding from the so-called "Third Wall" that surrounded Jerusalem was found along with many ballista and sling stones that the Romans had fired from catapults as Jewish guards defended the wall, the excavation found. The discovery was made last winter in the Russian...
Simone R. Fluke, age 83, of Winter Park, passed away on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016, at Florida Hospital—Orlando. She was born in New York City on June 19, 1933, to the late Irving and Ann Alpert Alpern and moved to Savannah. A graduate of the University of Georgia, she moved to Central Florida in 1970, and owned and operated her own interior decorating business. As a career woman, she was very well known in the community. Simone is survived by her sons, Dr. Michael (Melayha) of Eureka, Calif., Sheldon (Sheri) of Winter Park and Steven (Joan) o...
